I need a hand hold and a vent.
I have a 15 year old teenager that is truly struggling at the moment. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but he has been struggling with severe bullying at school (due to being trans) dad not accepting it and pretty much rejected the idea, a crime against ds a couple of years ago (court case delayed thanks to covid) and now exam stress plus forced isolation due someone in his bubble testing positive.
We are in the system eventually (taken over a year) and had confirmation of a referral to cahms 3 weeks ago. Not heard anything as yet. He does have a private therapist who has helped, but even she is very concerned about him.
Anyway tonight he had a really bad episode. Phoned 111 and they sent a crew out. They were so nice and incredibly understanding. However when they phoned the local crisis team, the crew were told that there is no out of hours help for under 16’s. We couldn’t believe it. I was told by the crisis team that I need to phone cahms in the morning and to lay it on thick to push him up the queue. The ambulance crew said they could take us to a&e but there is no guarantee we would be seen as it would be the same team and we would probably be sent home and told to wait until the morning.
It’s nuts! I know funding is crap, but surely a 15 year old has the same rights as a 16year old?
So now I am left exhausted, worried sick and face a long night hoping that my kid can last to the morning. Any drugs, sharp objects etc are safely tucked away where he can’t find them. The crew did an excellent job of talking to him about his problems and I think they did help as much as they could. Ds was quiet a bit calmer by the time they left.
Fortunately I have a few days off, but I just feel so deflated and exhausted with everything. Trying to keep strong for my child’s sake, but tonight has pretty much finished me off.
Has anyone has dealings with cahms crisis support? Are they helpful? Or will I be hitting my head against a brick wall.
I really hope they are able to help. It’s heartbreaking to see my child disintegrate in front of my eyes and I can’t do a damn thing to help other than supportive words and lots of hugs.